Wolfgang Hampel. Founder of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society for Betty MacDonald Fans all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and other famous writers and artists.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald Interviews are very popular all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel is also famous for his satirical poems and stories.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Wolfgang Hampel and Happy Easter with Betty MacDonald

Wolfgang Hampel - and Betty MacDonald fan club fans,we already mentioned that Anita, Eartha Kitt II and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on a new Betty
MacDonald exhibit.
If you are interested in joining this Betty MacDonald fan club project you are welcome.

Thanks a million!
We are going to publish some new Betty MacDonald fan club interviews by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel who is working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Good luck dear Wolfgang Hampel!Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is a great guy even if he is a bit strange.
My British friends would say he's a bit eccentric but that's like Onions in the Stew, don't you think.
Do I agree with Betty MacDonald's description of women and men? Oh yes I do!
Betty MacDonald was such a very intelligent lady and she knew very well what she was writing about.
If we believe that Mr. Tigerli acts a bit strange what can we say of the behaviour of some men?
Betty wrote the truth! By the way I don't hate men! I love them - some of them - especially mine!My family and friends adore Traci Tyne Hilton's books very much.
We are very happy that she is Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world like Linde Lund's interview with Traci Tyne Hilton very much.

This
is a picture of me on my tenth wedding anniversary at The Betty
MacDonald Farm on Vashon. My sweet husband planned our weekend away, but
didn't realize that I actually wanted to STAY at the farm! But he did
drive me there to see it before we went home, though. I'm pretty little
in the picture, but if you look closely, you can see me by the door to
the barn.

Which book by Betty MacDonald did you read first?

My
mom gave me her copy of The Egg and I when I was about 11. It was my
first taste of Betty Macdonald, but I was definitely hooked! I read it
at least once a year until I was in my twenties and finally got around
to finding the rest of her work at my library...and then collecting
reprints.

What do you like most in Betty MacDonald's books?

I love her over the top humor paired with her brutally honest representation of life.

Is there anything you dislike in Betty MacDonald's books?

One
could call her portrayal of the Native Americans of the Pacific
Northwest in the Egg and I racist, but she was a woman of her time, and
the things she writes about, such as alcoholism, are not untrue. They
are just reported with that brutal honesty that she also uses for her
white neighbors--no one is safe from her sharp pen. So, it makes me a
little uncomfortable to read, but at the same time, I think it is real
(from her perspective at least, and her perspective is valid,) and I
don't dislike it, if that makes sense.

Oh yes! I wish I had had them as kids, but I have been reading them to my
kids which is even better! My sister in law bought me Nancy and Plum
several years back, and I love it. I don't know why it's not a classic
on par with the Secret Garden or the Little Princess! But...even better
than Nancy and Plum are the Piggle Wiggle books. They crack my kids up,
and were the first chapter books that my girls really devoured. They
crack me up, too!

What is your favourite book by Betty MacDonald?

It
is still The Egg and I. It's a book that formed so much of my opinion
on fiction and held such an important part of my growing up--I don't
think anything could beat it. My husband and I call snobby activities
"The Theatah and the Dahnce" and I've been known to say "I itch, so I
scratch, so what?"

Did Betty MacDonald influence you as author?

Absolutely. Though I write mysteries I want them to be funny, and I hold Betty MacDonald's work up as a standard for humor.

What do you think is the reason Betty MacDonald is beloved all over the world?

Betty's
work gives us a glimpse into a world that we would have never known
without her. Both life in the Olympic Mountains and on Vashon are so
different from regular town and city life. I think readers love to
escape, and the more remote the location, the more different the people
we get to meet, the more we love the work! Betty's books help us all
escape to a time that is getting farther and farther away, and a place
that doesn't even exist anymore, but even when it did, it was
unexpected, hilarious, and stunningly beautiful.

Dearest Traci I hope I don't bore with so many questions.I
wasn't a bit bored! Betty MacDonald is definitely my favorite author
and I loved having a chance to talk about her work and why I love it so
much!

As I already mentioned there are several Betty MacDonald fan club fans who enjoy your books very much.

That
people who love Betty MacDonald also like my books is almost
unbelievable to me, and really is a dream come true, as an author. When I
was a young girl, curled up with her work, escaping to that remote egg
farm, I never dreamed that someday people who loved her, would also
enjoy what I had to say.

Dearest Traci thanks a million for this wonderful interview.
Lots of love to you and your family.

Lots of love to you, as well! Thank you.

Traci

Betty MacDonald Fan Club proudly presents:

The
amazing, very witty, charming, intelligent story written by our
brilliant Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honor Member - artist and writer
Letizia Mancino.

Betty,
I love you! Your books „Anybody can do anything“ and „Onions in the
Stew“ are really outstanding! I take them into my hand, and at a stone's
throw I am right away in America ! Columbus and the egg: The great
discovery!

Your bestseller „The Egg and I“ the greatest
discovery. And you and I! I know America: It's true what you are
writing: That's America: Absolutely right! No, even to the least detail!
The landscape and the passion: Do you know the country where pistols
blossom? Brava, Betty, you are describing the Americans vividly,
genuinely, insufferably, brushed upon paper. If I like to read your
works? To read doesn't even express it! I can even hear and see
everything: Nature, culture, subculture.

America has almost
remained unchanged! O those cool Americans! Calculating, stockmarket,
Wall Street, the financial crisis (even back in 1930), the gamblers, the
bankruptcy of companies! The swarming of dodgers and cheaters. People
left without money. Dispair und hunger! A terrible „Worst Case“ (when I
knew but little English I thought it is sausage with cheese).

Still
how impressive is the ability to adaptone self of the Americans: They
know how to enjoy life, acrobats of survival! In the twinkle of an eye
they achieved to adapt themselves and effect the work of pioneers: In
the morning you are a cleaningwoman, in the evening a brothel woman! No
problem!

„The insufficient, here it's becoming an event; The
indescribable, here it's done;“ Mary Bard Jensen, your sister, was the
treasure trove of procuring work: My word, what a power woman with
unlimited imagination! She has recommended you everywhere: Betty can do
everything, also write novels! Go ahead, sister, hurry up! The editor
wants to see your manuscripts! Up to that point you had not written a
single line! Wow! And if still everything goes wrong? No problem: When
you dream, dream big!

Just look, you have become famous.The Egg
and I You know that, Betty? I'll slip into „The Egg and I“ and come and
be your guest! I want to get to know your chickens. I hate chickens!
I'm a chickens slave from North America! O Betty, without these damned
animals, no chance of you becoming famous! „The Egg and I“ you would
never have written! How many readers you have made happy!

Your
book is so amusing! Your witty fine (almost nasty) remarks about your
family members and roundabout neighbours made me laugh so much! You have
been born into a special family: Comfort was not desired: I can't but
be amazed: What did your father say to your mother? After tomorrow I am
going to work elsewhere: Thousands of miles away...He sent her a
telegram: LEAVING FOR TWO YEARS ON THURSDAY FOR MEXICO CITY STOP GET
READY IF YOU WANT TO COME ALONG – That was on Monday. Mother wired back:
SHALL BE READY, and so she was.That's America! Improvisation, change,
adventure. You show no weakness: Let's go! Your descriptions, Betty,
about the tremendous happenings in nature have deeply frightened me.

Continent
America, I'm terrified by you! I feel so small and threatened like a
tiny fly before an enormous flyswatter! Your novel is very many-sided!
The reader may use it even as a cook book! „The Egg and I“ starts
straight away with a recipe: „Next to the wisdom that lamb meat doesn't
taste good unless it has been roasted with garlic“. Do you enjoy the
American food?

O Betty, it's too fatty for me and I hate garlic!
(Betty is presently cooking lunch for Bob. She's continually talking to
„STOVE“: STOVE is Bob's rival; in the beginning I thought it was being
himself). She turns round and says: Well, so no garlic for you. No lamb
either, Betty. I don't eat any meat! I'd actually prefer only fried
eggs. Betty, let me make them myself. Then you try it!

Blow!
„STOVE“ out of order! I don't succeed in turning it on! Damned! It's got
more of a mind of its own than „STOVE“ of my friend, Hilde Domin! Bob's
coming! He must eat directly! „Men eat anything, the swines! Says your
grandmother Gammy“. Is it true? Do you like my chickens? Bob asked me
without introducing himself. Yes, Bob (rude) I love them! I'm
vegetarian. Do you want to clean the henhouse with me tomorrow? A,
you're always getting up so early at four o'clock! Bob, that's not a job
for me! He looked at me disdainfully! A Roman cissy! You need a
reeducation at once! Help, Bob's attacking me! I rather change the novel
immediately and move to the „Island“!

Democratic road to the White House

Bernie
Sanders has swept to victory over Hillary Clinton in all three states
that voted for the Democratic presidential nominee on Saturday.

The biggest prize was Washington state, but Mr Sanders also won in Alaska and Hawaii, boosting his campaign. He took at least 70% of the vote in all three states.Mr
Sanders thanked his supporters and said his "campaign has the
momentum", but he still faces a tough task to overhaul Mrs Clinton.After Saturday's caucuses, she leads Mr Sanders by 1,243 delegates to 975, the Associated Press count shows.

When superdelegates - party officials who can support either
candidate - who have so far declared their allegiance are included, Mrs
Clinton is ahead by 1,712 to 1,004 in the race to reach 2,383 delegates.

Bigger battles ahead

Washington
was the most significant of the three states voting on Saturday, with
101 delegates up for grabs. There were 16 delegates on offer in Alaska
and 25 in Hawaii.Mr Sanders won 73% of the vote in Washington against 27% for Mrs Clinton, AP reports.He won a massive 82% of the vote in Alaska, against 18% for Mrs Clinton. In the Hawaii caucus, Mr Sanders won by 70% to 30%.

In
total, Mr Sanders won 55 delegates and Mrs Clinton secured 20. More
delegates from Washington will be allocated in coming weeks.

Celebrating via Twitter,
Mr Sanders said: "Thank you, Alaska! Together we are sending a message
that this government belongs to all of us... Washington, thank you for
your huge support! It is hard for anybody to deny that our campaign has
the momentum."Mr Sanders earlier told supporters in Wisconsin:
"This is what momentum is about. Don't let anybody tell you we can't win
the nomination or win the general election. We're going to do both of
those things."Mr Sanders had spent the week on the west coast, rallying support among liberals and the left-wing.

Mr Sanders was trying to build on overwhelming victories in last Tuesday's caucuses in Idaho and Utah.However,
he suffered defeat in Arizona, and although his delegate haul from the
three states was 20 higher than Mrs Clinton, he failed to make major
inroads into her lead.Mrs Clinton pointed out last week that she had "2.6 million more votes" than Mr Sanders.She campaigned less in the three states that voted on Saturday, perhaps expecting the defeats, and spent Easter with her family.Despite
Saturday's results, the battle will be won and lost in far bigger
states still to come. In RealClearPolitics poll averages, Mrs Clinton
has the lead over Mr Sanders by nine percentage points in California, 34
points in New York and 28 in Pennsylvania.Calculations suggest
Mr Sanders may need to win two-thirds of the remaining delegates - in
primaries, caucuses and among so-far uncommitted super-delegates - the
unelected officials who can vote for their candidate of choice at the
party's election convention.

'Ripped off'

There was no voting in the Republican race on Saturday.Donald
Trump leads Ted Cruz by 739 delegates to 465, with a total of 1,237
needed to win the Republican nomination, according to AP.

He
told the New York Times he was not an isolationist, but was concerned
that America had been let down by its partners and allies.He said: "We have been disrespected, mocked and ripped off for many, many years by people that were smarter, shrewder, tougher."So
America first, yes, we will not be ripped off anymore. We're going to
be friendly with everybody, but we're not going to be taken advantage of
by anybody," he said.

The delegate tracker

Winning delegates, the people who endorse a candidate at the party conventions in July, is key to securing the nomination.The Democratic totals include the delegates won per state, as well as
so-called "unpledged" or "super delegates". Hillary Clinton has a huge
lead among the party leaders and elected officials who each get a vote
at the convention.AP conducts surveys of these super delegates,
and adds them to a candidate's totals if they indicate their support.
But super delegates can - and do - change their minds during the course
of the campaign, so the figures may shift as the race unfolds.

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.